Connection
Reach out.
Your Words of Wisdom (WOW) Guidance Card of the week for Living Life Better.
CONNECTION
Reach out.
Definition: aligned, bond, relationship, united
Other: collaborative, commonality, friendship
Opposite: disjointed, outcast, apart, divided
A big part of connection is making the effort to reach out and make the desired relationship happen. It’s probably easier to do nothing, yet relationships take effort and work to make them flourish. It’s like maintenance on your vehicle. Regular attention needs to be paid to your vehicle to keep it running smoothly and when something goes amiss, repairs need to be made. We can’t just neglect our vehicles and expect them to keep running along smoothly. The same is true for our relationships.
Regular attention needs to happen and the occasional emergency needs to be dealt with to keep our connections (relationships, bonds, friendships…) in top form. Having bonds with others takes dedication. Relationships, bonds or connections don’t just happen.
A friend of mine is an excellent promoter of connection. She sends cards in the mail to me and my family for all of our important dates, events, celebrations and grieves with us to. It is such a delight to receive these tokens of her love and adoration in the mail and it brightens the day of both the sender and the recipient. She sets the bar quite high. She is a master connector.
I received some disappointing news this week and shortly thereafter the mail arrived and low and behold I had a handwritten note from a woman whose beautiful words and gift of kindness, made all the difference to me. It changed the trajectory of my day. Her effort made a huge difference to me. Each act of love we do, sows seeds of goodness and sends out ripples of love into the world which grow and grow.
Here I am sharing that act of loving connection with you, inviting you to consider the same so that we all can benefit from improved relationships and connection in the world. Her small act of kindness has magnified itself exponentially. It’s a beautiful upward spiral of goodness and grace.
Another friend of mine is another promoter of connection. She finds fun ways for us to try new adventures together and keeps the dialogue going between a small group of life-long friends.
During this period of social distancing, connection has been even more important. Thank goodness for technology such as phone calls, texts, emails and Zoom. I sure miss the physical connection between my family but Zooming together has been a life-saver and connection booster to the three generations in our family. What a great invention. It helps foster our sense of connection and strengthens our family ties.
I’ve been meeting with a group of friends bi-weekly on Zoom since we can’t gather in person. Whoever can show up does and we benefit from our time together. It’s good medicine for our body, minds and spirit.
How can you begin or enhance your connections this week?
· If you are thinking about someone, take a moment, and reach out and connect.
· Plan a virtual or in-person gathering.
· Don’t wait for someone else to reach out to you, take the initiative and go for it.
· Send a card, text, email to someone who could use a little encouragement (ps…we ALL could use a little tender, loving care these days.)
· Do a random act of kindness.
· Ask someone going through a tough time how you can help them.
Humans crave connection and whither without it. Your connections are important. A little effort to love and nurture these connections and relationships pays huge dividends. You are worthy and deserving of having, cultivating, and maintaining blessed connections and relationships. Reach out, you’ll be so glad you did.
Find the Good.
Becky and Janette